Home Christian News ‘The Chosen’ Creator Responds to Dustup About Employee’s Pride Flag

‘The Chosen’ Creator Responds to Dustup About Employee’s Pride Flag

Dallas Jenkins
Screengrab via YouTube @The Chosen

Dallas Jenkins, creator and director of the “The Chosen,” has addressed the latest controversy surrounding his TV series about Jesus’ life and ministry. After an openly gay cameraman’s Pride flag was visible on set, some people criticized “The Chosen” for “going woke” and even called for a viewer boycott.

In a June 1 Instagram post, Jenkins wrote, “I’m currently too busy filming our Jesus show to extensively discuss our crew personal workspace policies with the world, but I’ll release some thoughts and answer some questions in the near future.”

In the comments, Jenkins added, “Here’s what I briefly said to the Daily Caller when the so-called ‘story’ first broke: ‘We’ve made it clear from the beginning we don’t have a religious or political litmus test for who can work on our show. I love our cast and crew, especially because even though they all come from different backgrounds and beliefs, they work their butts off for the show and the viewers. The show’s official stance on anything is to be found in the content of the show.’”

Dallas Jenkins: Employees Encounter Christ on ‘The Chosen’ Set

During a June 1 interview with The Christian Post, Dallas Jenkins explained that what matters most is an employee’s qualifications to help tell this story. “We are not a church in which all of our employees are going to fit under one particular mission statement, one particular belief system,” Jenkins told reporter Jeannie Ortega Law. Because he leads a for-profit public media company that has investors, Jenkins explained, the top objective is who’s the best person for each job.

“When it comes to [employee] personal belief systems or what they wear,” Jenkins continued, “we’re not going to do what we’ve seen other people do, where sometimes you’ll see a Christian not allowed to wear a hat or express themselves or put a sticker on their desk that expresses their beliefs…We’re not going to do the same thing in reverse.”

As long as employees continue to work toward making “The Chosen” as great as possible, Jenkins added, “We think our viewers should be saying thank you, especially to those who might have different beliefs than we do and yet are still willing to work their tails off for this show and for the message of the show.”